Beaucoup Fish

Day 12

I woke up in the night and couldn’t get back so sleep so went for a walk on the beach with my torch. Got a shock when something big brushed my leg – turned out to be one of the resort dogs who was petrified of me. I sat on a swing between two coconut trees and watched the glows on the horizon – big fishing boats which use arrays of spotlights to lure fish in. The dog overcame its fear and came to join me. It was relaxing with just the sounds of the jungle behind and the waves ahead.

After another bad sleep (I’m exhausted all the time now), I stayed out of the blazing sun to protect my sunburn, catching up on my photos. Then suncreamed myself to the max wishing I had a nubile German girl to rub it into my back. Applying suncream to your back is pretty much impossible to do properly with just one arm. In the end I improvised, putting suncream on a water bottle and then a t-shirt to get it to the spots I couldn’t reach! Definitely need a girlfriend soon 😛

Fishy stalkers

Went for a long snorkel out by the big boulders where I found more coral and some big shoals of fish. I saw a cuttlefish (like squid but without the tentacles), and some big needlefish. There were also some giant clams which are wedged between rocks and have vivid blue insides. They pulse regularly. There are Finding Nemo fish out here as well, poking out of their swaying pink homes. The little black and yellow striped fish are quite curious fellows and liked to follow me around. One type of fish kept biting my legs aggressively when I got close, a bit painful, but it didn’t draw blood. I learned to keep clear of those! Smaller ones would sometimes peck at my leg eating dead skin or whatever delicacy my leg has to offer.

Find Nemo…

Koh Tao is a pretty safe place for snorkelling and diving though, there aren’t many dangers in the water compared to other places in Thailand. The only fish you are supposed to watch out for are big trigger fish, and the occasional jellyfish and spiky urchin. Compared to Koh Chang where I learned to dive a few years ago it was very tame, the incentive to master your buoyancy is high there as the seabed’s covered with massive spiky urchins!

In the afternoon the weather became worse eventually becoming stormy. I sheltered in the Banana Rock rasta bar with a Chang beer and watched the moody skies and the waves crashing on the rocks. Sea spray, rain and wind whipped through the place. My amazing sex appeal caught the attention of the resident dog who after becoming friendly decided to take things a step further and constantly tried to hump my leg. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and so I let him have his way with me (haha – not really, the owner tied him up!).

Had a tasty mussaman curry for dinner and discovered my big spider friend lurking menacingly by the bed. His eyes shone in the torchlight as he flobbered up the wall at 500 mph. No scorpions in my bed so considered it a good night!

Day 11

The day started with an hour or two on the Catamaran to the island of Koh Tao, sat inside in rows like an plane. There wasn’t much to see outside except spray. They showed a Canadian version of Beadles About, and then their version of You’ve Been Framed, and the universal entertainment of tomfoolery and people hitting things hard with their face gave everyone on board something to chuckle at. Unfortunately it was on loop so the second time round the jokes got old real fast and we all went crazy and set fire to the TVs and jumped around like monkeys throwing shit at each other. Well that’s what should have happened anyway.

Water taxi

Arriving at the pier masses of people filed on and off the ferry, most with big backpacks. A throng of touts offered taxis and accommodation. I already knew one of the nicest places on the island from my guidebook so I ignored the yells and shambled down to the rather grotty beach to get a water taxi. Water taxis are your classic Thai longboats with the coloured ribbons on the front. Getting on-board was troublesome with one arm (you have to wade and haul yourself in) but half-soaked I got there in the end. My bags didn’t even get dropped in the sea which is always a bonus. Of course I found out later that week I could have got the taxi for half the price so I need to remember to haggle.

The coast has lots of resorts like this

Our trip was about ten minutes around the coast, past an awesome palm tree, jungle and boulder landscape dotted with beach hut resorts and little sandy coves. We pulled into Sai Nuaan – a nice little white sand beach and I wandered around the the three beach bungalow resorts there looking for the best deal.

Sai Nuaan’s bigger beach

The smaller beach

Sai Nuaan has two nice little beaches and beach bungalows (huts) by them, with some further back in the jungle and among the coconut trees. Beach view huts cost double. I found myself a cheapish hillside hut, they’re all a bit gappy but have mosquito nets. Then I chillaxed on the beach at about 11am in the scorching sun. There weren’t many other people around, maybe a dozen tourists spread between two beaches, mostly couples.

I like the stripey ones. They are quite curious and like to follow you around for ages. Or maybe they just want human flesh and are waiting for the perfect moment to strike…

In my typical restless fashion I soon did some snorkelling around the bay and was happy to find quite a lot of fish, including multi-coloured ones. There was a lot of seaweed growing on the floor and dead coral, though there were a few live corals.  After a while I had to walk to town to buy more suncream – a 30 minute walk along a winding concrete path which goes along the coast and passes through loads of posh resorts. They looked great but I think the ones I was at had more character and were more natural.

Ban Mae Haad; the main town where the pier is, is your typical concrete touristy mess with no character. It reminded me a lot of the Greek island tourist resort towns. It’s full of dive centres, shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Motorbikes whizz around it, many driven by tourists. You can even hire ATVs. The big beach there is littered and has lots of debris, and it’s noisy being near the roads and pier. Glad I was staying away from there, though it’s a good place to party. On the way back I saw a grey squirrel in the jungle. Probably hid in my luggage from Scotland.

Did some more snorkeling. My little waterproof camera worked fine but it has trouble focussing underwater, and the quality depends a lot on the water visibility. Because the lens is always exposed it’s really easy to smear too. As you’re taking photos from above it’s hard to get interesting images but being able to take photos underwater at all was a pretty good novelty for me! My shoulder coped ok with snorkelling (1 armed swimming for the win) but it did get sore especially when taking photos underwater. Photography, stop damaging me!

The Banana Rock bar

As the sun went down I relaxed with a big Chang (Thai beer) at the wicked little rasta bar “Banana Rock” which sits above the beach on pillars, made of planks and driftwood, filled with tribal trinkets and pumps out Bob Marley. As the tide comes in the sea swirls around the pillars. Very chilled, but no rest for the wicked, I tried my tripod for some sunset photos but it was very windy so there was too much vibration. I joined a young German couple I met at the bar for dinner. These islands are very popular with the Germans, in fact they’d practically taken over the resort. To be honest most of the German I know comes from World War 2 films and video games. I could run around screaming “Schnell! Schnell!” and “Schizer!!!” but I probably wouldn’t win many friends here.

Back at the hut, I discovered this beast chilling out on my floor.

Spiders don’t bother me much but this just looks a bit urgh and moved in that horrible “flobbery” way, really fast. I chased him away. I knew he’d come back later, I just didn’t fancy standing on him accidently or have him jump onto my face or crawl into my stuff. And then looked over to the bed, which is covered completely by a mosquito net – but wait, what’s this on my white sheets? Ah yes, just your standard bedfellow, a scorpion!

A bit perturbed by the “security” of my mosquito net I rescued the wee chap (he was only about the size of my thumb) on a bit of paper, and put him out of the window. He wasn’t too happy about being moved, his tail arching and pincers snapping away. So that’s big lizards, spiders, mosquitos, ants, frogs and scorpions to have graced my bedrooms so far. They should make an I-Spy book for exotic bedrooms. “Alligator is pillow – 100 points”. And then, having a shower I realised that despite the suncream I’d been painfully sunburnt on my back and worst of all, my shoulders. So now my only good shoulder was a red sore. Can’t believe the difference in weather in this part of Thailand. Can I cripple myself any further? Tune in next time to find out! (the answer is probably yes).

Day 9

Statue in the Mon temple from yesterday

The only other thing I really wanted to do in Sangklaburi was a boat ride, but the weather looked bad again. Other activities like jungle trekking were out due to the shoulder. I want to visit this place again in the dry season when the water level is low and you can see the towns the reservoir sunk, so I can have my boat ride then. Unsure of where to go next, I decided to head back to Bangkok in the poor weather and see if any of my friends on their travels were back in touch. With some help from the locals I found the well-hidden bus station and got a comfy aircon bus back down to Kanbanchuri. The sun emerged so I got a nice view descending past the reservoir.

We arrived about 6pm, just in time for the national anthem to come over the bus station loudspeaker. It plays in public places at 8am and 6pm and everyone is expected to stand. Bear in mind that Thailand is incredibly patriotic, it’s against the law to slander the royals, there’s pictures of the king everywhere, even in people’s cars and the royals are almost worshipped. I watched some people literally leap off their seats as the anthem came on and stand. I played my part, it’s considered offensive not to stand. People weren’t at attention but still they weren’t doing anything else like reading. It was all quite bizarre, but I guess the Thais grow up with it. I wonder how they feel about it? It’s just a normal part of life for them I suppose.

Nom nom nom

I found a bus from the same station leaving for Bangkok and grabbed a bag of fried grubs to eat whilst I waited. I’d always chickened out of these on Khao San Road but I was hungry and determined to try some, they’re supposed to be quite tasty. True enough, they were very light and crispy and strongly flavoured with herbs. Pretty good!

The bus took 3 hours and I arrived at night in a big bus terminal in Bangkok with only a bus number to go on to get to the centre. Of course in classic travel fashion, turns out my info was useless. I asked around and with sign language got directed to a bus terminal. Got on a local bus to Khao San road and helped out some distressed German backpackers on the bus who had no idea where they were and escorted them to Khao San. Checked into a grotty little room on Rambuttri Soi, as it was Saturday night all the good places were full. For 200 baht (4 quid) in the centre of touristville you get what you pay for and it was noisy, smelled of nasty drains, had a boarded up window and a cockroach scuttered around to keep me company for the night.

Day 10

It’s quite common to find fruit stalls on the street with ice trolleys filled with fresh melon, pineapple, mangoes and payapa. They chop it for you and you eat right away. Tasty!

Spent half the day in a café chilling out on the internet trying to dodge Bangkok’s intense heat and humidity. I was researching where to go next. I wanted to go to an island to rest for a bit as after a week and a half of travelling with little sleep and the bad shoulder I was physically and mentally exhausted. Unfortunately most of the little quiet islands don’t open their resort doors until November so I went to a travel agent, one of Mark’s friends, for advice on a quieter island that would be open. She recommended Ko Chang which I’ve visited before, and Ko Tao, so I decided to head there. Supposedly one of the best dive and snorkel places in Thailand too. I booked an overnight bus and boat to the island.

Waiting for the river ferry

Whilst I waited for the night bus I wandered around the area near Khao San Road which I knew quite well by now, taking photos. It was Sunday so a lot of Thai people were around enjoying their weekend. The parks were full. I walked by the riverside and found a small community living rough under the bridge, right by the sandbags used for preventing flooding.

The park by the old fort was full

Woman prepares food in the community under the bridge

In the big park by the Grand Palace, there were a group of performers with spring legs, skateboards, 1-wheeled roller skates and other contraptions, making a film. They did some impressive stunts and it was fun watching them bounce around!

I got a reflexology foot massage and suffered excruciating pain as the guy dug into my sole repeatedly, and then used a metal rod to press (hurt) pressure points in my foot. Weirdly the other foot was fine, maybe the first one was super stiff. Ran into Mark and h family randomly whilst I was getting the massage and said hello. From the massage seat on the street you could watch the world go by, and also some massive bats which were flying around from some nearby trees. Some of the black ones I saw in the distance were about the length of my arm, no joke! To be honest I didn’t feel any better after the massage, the  non-reflex one I’d had the other week had a better effect!

Then it was onto a double decker coach with a bunch of Thais, Chinese and westerners for the long bus journey. The bus was decent and I managed to get some sleep. We arrived around 5am at the mainland pier of Chumpon and waited another few hours for the Catamaran to Koh Tao.

He looks innocent enough but this guy is the bringer of pain!